12 October 2022

MAINS DAILY QUESTIONS & MODEL ANSWERS

Q1. What is Death Sentence. Discuss the views of the Supreme Court of India on the same.

 Paper & Topic: GS II – Judiciary related issues

 Model Answer

 Background

• The Supreme Court has ruled that the death penalty should only be applied in the “rarest of rare” circumstances.
• This approach was advanced by other rulings that said there were other factors to consider in determining whether a crime should be classified as one of the “rarest of rare” cases. The decision is heavily influenced by the socioeconomic background, emotional condition, and other essential traits of the offender.
• In reality, the court declares the conviction before imposing the punishment. Because there aren’t many arguments on mitigating circumstances (from the convict’s side) and aggravating circumstances (from the prosecution’s side), this is often done the same day as the verdict.
• Several court rulings have endorsed the practise of same-day sentencing. According to the highest court, the mere fact that a death sentence is being rendered on the same day will not render the verdict illegal in cases where the prisoner was given a significant amount of time to explain mitigating circumstances.

Issues:

• The death penalty has structural components that discriminate on the basis of caste, class, and religion. An investigation of 385 death row inmates by Project 39A, a nonprofit that advocates for criminal justice reform, revealed that 76% of them belonged to racial, ethnic, or religious minorities in 2016.
• The majority (more than 75%) of the inmates came from impoverished regions.
• More than 62% of the inmates lacked a diploma from a secondary school.
• These biases are pervasive across the entire criminal justice system, but the death penalty makes them worse by making punishment irrevocable and definitive.
• More over 60% of the 80 death sentences handled by Delhi trial courts between 2000 and 2013 resulted in acquittals or the High Court lessened the penalty, according to a 2020 Project 39A analysis of trial court judgements.
• 72% of all death penalty cases in Delhi trial court proceedings between 2000 and 2015 identified the “collective conscience of the society” as their driving force.

Conclusion:

• The Supreme Court’s decision to establish consistent guidelines for trial courts regarding death sentences marks a significant advancement in the process’s move toward greater compassion.
• In the Bachan Singh case, which occurred 42 years before the current investigation of procedural fairness, the Supreme Court established the “rarest of rare” safeguard for the first time.
• With the exception of terrorism-related offences, the death sentence should be abolished, according to the Law Commission Report on Death Sentence from 2015.
• A global decline in “active retentionism” can be seen in the study’s finding that the death penalty has been abolished in over 144 nations through legislation or actual application.
• In the meantime, India is passing laws that carry the death sentence. The bar for the imposition of the death sentence must be raised in order to strike a balance between its total abolishment and active promotion.
• The Constitution Bench is expected to draught laws that would allow courts to conduct thorough investigations into a variety of circumstances prior to inflicting punishment.

Q2. Discuss the role of NGO’s in the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Funding.

 Paper & Topic: GS II – Social Sectors related issues

 Model Answer:

 Role of NGOs in CSR Funding:

• In India, one-fifth of all private funding are provided by CSR contributors, who are primarily programme advocates.
• They seldom ever offer financial support for organisational growth. Any indirect costs they may incur are only subject to a set rate of less than 5%. The indirect costs incurred by NGOs might range from 5% to 55%, depending on their goals and business practises.
• The donors’ emphasis on regulatory compliances contributes to this situation. The CSR law was updated in 2021, and the new clauses enhanced the severity of the penalties for non-compliance.
• 90% of CSR donors are small, unlisted businesses, and those with annual spending under Rs. 50 lakh are exempt from having CSR committees. When faced with such situations, businesses frequently delegate the creation of action plans and decision-making to the corporate boards. It’s possible that the corporate boards have little to no knowledge of NGOs and humanitarian endeavours. As a result, compliance, risk management, and cost cutting are the boards’ top objectives.
• Instead of recruiting capable leaders with experience in the social sector, larger companies subcontract the CSR effort to the heads of their HR department, administrative department, or communication department.
• Not every company is aware with every aspect of the CSR laws. For instance, the 5% cap on administrative overhead costs only applies to expenses for internal CSR initiatives, not administrative expenses.
• Many safety-related mistakes are made, and as a result, an NGO may mistakenly have unpaid expenses or be required to use its limited core funds to meet such demands.

What funding concerns do NGOs have?

• Any charitable endeavour requires large contributions to meet costs. For instance, funding can be provided for books, online learning resources, teacher development, curriculum development, etc. by a non-profit organisation (NGO) whose objective is to improve educational outcomes.
• NGOs do, however, incur significant costs. A non-profit organisation must cover costs such as administrative and support costs including electricity, rent, technology, and human resource costs if it wants to have a long-lasting influence.
• In other words, an NGO’s true expenditures go beyond those associated with its programmes and also include indirect expenses like those associated with organisational development.

Conclusion:

• Businesses should consider pooling their resources with other CSR and social sector stakeholders who share their values to improve the potential effect of their collective efforts.
• They might also consider employing experts who have previous experience dealing with NGOs.
• CSR funders could pick up ideas from their peers who have different viewpoints on organisational growth and indirect costs. For instance, the ASK Foundation, a CSR initiative of the ASK Group, works to improve living conditions in rural areas. However, up until four years ago, the organisation only paid a small (5–10%) portion of indirect expenditures as part of its yearly contributions to NGOs and did not pay any costs related to organisational growth. Later, it started providing up to 20% in indirect cost support and created a multi-year grant-making strategy. This decision was made as a result of research into the higher rate practises of its peer organisations and an analysis of the benefits of a stronger NGO partner on programme outcomes.